On Sunday, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold returned to national TV to sound alarm bells for American democracy.
“The attacks on American confidence in elections, they’re getting worse,” Griswold declared in an interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi. “We’re seeing the setting of the stage so that the next time extreme election officials or extreme candidates don’t like the results, it’s going to be easier for them to successfully pull off a Jan. 6.”
Conspicuously absent from Griswold’s exaggerations were any grievances about fellow Democrat Joe Biden’s remarks questioning the legitimacy of the upcoming 2022 elections.
“Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn’t passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?” a reporter asked Biden.
“Well,” the president began, “it all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try and alter the outcome of the election.”
When asked again about the midterms, Biden got blunt: “The prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed.” Wow.
During the 2020 election cycle, President Donald Trump planted seeds of a coming “rigged election.” Now, Biden is doing exactly the same thing, only with a “voting rights” spin.
This time Griswold is in on the spin.
“(I)t’s so urgent that we do everything we can to fortify democracy, the right to vote and the future of the nation right now,” she insisted. Read: Passing the Democrats’ voting bills — which failed in the U.S. Senate last week — is necessary to evade a supposed existential crisis.
Griswold’s rhetoric is disingenuous at best. She knows these “voting rights” bills are actually a disastrous attempt to federalize elections that would undercut the very things that make Colorado’s electoral system a model for other states.
Shouldn’t our elected SOS protect Colorado’s status as an election leader — not fight for congressional legislation that would undermine it?
So, is Griswold’s rhetoric simply disingenuous? More likely, it is intentional deception. However, Griswold isn’t the only Democrat playing political games with elections.
Last week, I highlighted divisive, partisan statements by Rep. Jason Crow and school board member Tay Anderson as they demanded Congress federalize elections. State House Democrats led an attempt to divide legislators and further politicize Colorado’s elections with House Resolution 1004.
The public record proves Colorado Democrats — and Griswold, especially — are almost universally incapable of ensuring open and secure elections with fairness and credibility.
This is striking given the murkiness among some Republicans. As Griswold alluded to on MSNBC, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters faces a grand jury empaneled by District Attorney Dan Rubenstein. This stems from SOS and FBI investigations into allegations that Peters committed an election security breach in violation of state and federal laws as well as election rules.
Two-thirds of state House Republicans voted last week for amendments to the aforementioned HR 22-1004, in part questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and strangely supporting Peters as well as Americans (including Rep. Ron Hanks) who “peacefully protested” outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Unlike Democrats, the Republican side is no monolith on elections. Several state representatives publicly admitted it was a mistake to vote for those amendments. Rubenstein is a Republican. House Minority Leader Hugh McKean and GOP chair Kristi Burton Brown reaffirmed the 2020 election is “settled.”
While Democrats pretend to be above-board on elections and voting rights, they have zero credibility. Coloradans are sick and tired of the partisan wrangling on elections. It’s time to drop the gamesmanship.
Jimmy Sengenberger is host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” on News/Talk 710 KNUS. He also hosts “Jimmy at the Crossroads,” a web show and podcast with the Washington Examiner.
